Poundless railroad crossing



16,1941. ,ALEXANDER 2,266,293

` POUNDLESS RAILROAD CHOSES ING ATTORNEY.

Dec. 16, 1941. l.. ALEXANDER PONDLESS RAILROAD CROSSING Filed Jun'e 15,4 1940. s sheets-'sheet l2 ,'NVEA ma. @Zz/@W11 E i Al'mnwm- D.'16,1941. 1 ALEXANDER Y y 2,266,293]

oUNDLEss RAILROAD RossING Fild June 15, 41940 @sheets-sheet :sf

4mvENTOK f ATTORNEY.

L. ALEXANDER POUNDLESS RAILROAD CROSSING Filed Jup@ l5, 1940 8 Sheets-Sheet 4 w. l w f E ATTORNEY.

Dec. 16, 1941.

l.. ALEXANDER POUNDLESS RAILROAD CROSSING Filed June l5, 1940 8 Sheets-Sheet 5 llllllll INVENTOR. Zea/ mi ATTORNEY.

, Sheets-Sheet 6 v I,.NII.,..I..,|. ,IM N IIIIIIIIWII. I I .T I@ I LILMI vl I l I I Il I I l.. I y lNvENT'oR. :Zelf/a @aa/@fader ATTORNEY.

' Dec. 16, 1941. l.. ALEXANDER PoNDLEss RAILROAD CROSSING Filed June l5, 1940 De@ 15, 1941- L. ALEXANDER 2,266,293

POUNDLESS RAILROAD CROSSING 8 Shee.ts -Sheet 7 INVENTOR. Ylldz @m2265624 M 3 TTORNEY.

Dec. 16, 1941.

l.. ALEXANDER `8 Sheets-Sheet 8 Filed June 15, 1940 I Ib Patented Dec. 16, 1941 UNITED STATES PATENTy OFFICE 2,266,293' PoUNDLEss RAILROAD CROSSING Lewis Alexander, Clinton, 111.r Application June 15, 1940, seria1No.s4o,726

(ci. 24a- 379) z claims.

This invention relates to railway crossings, and more particularly to those that are equipped to prevent pounding of the wheels on the parts of the crossing, thereby to reduce wear and tearon the crossing, as well as on the rolling stock.

Generally stated, the object of the invention is to provide a novel and improved construction and arrangement whereby continuity of contact between the rails and wheels is insured by the use of pivoted members which each have a vertical axis of movement on a base or bed-plate structure, and which are suitably controlled to swing into and out of operative position, thereby to, in eifect, ll up or eliminate the gaps that would otherwise remain at each rail intersection, thereby providing a smooth and poundless travel of the wheels over the crossing structure, in a manner tending to increase the life of the crossing, and to prevent jolting and jarring of trains, to the annoyance of passengers.

It is also an object to provide certain specic features of construction and combinations tending to increase the general efficiency and desir- -ability of a poundless railway crossing of this particular character.

To the foregoing and other useful ends, the invention consists in matters hereinafter set forth and claimed and shown. in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a plan viewof a railway crossing bodying the principles of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a similar view inhorizontal section, showing the parts of the base or bed structure separated.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged plan view of one of the rail intersections of the crossing.

Fig. 4 is a perspective of one of the pivoted members that pivot or swing into and' out of operative position.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary plan View of certain portions of the crossing structure.

Fig. 6 is a perspective of another pivoted or swinging member.

Fig. 7 is a vertical section on line 1 1 in Fig. 1 of the drawings, on a larger scale.

Fig. 8 is a similar View on line 8-8 in Fig. l of the drawings.

Fig. 9 is a similar section on line 9 9 in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Fig.'10 is a similar section on line III-I0 in Fig 1 of the drawings.

Fig. 11 is an enlarged fragmentary plan view of certain portions of the crossing.

Fig. 12 is a similar View of certain other portions thereof.

f in the drawings.

Fig. V13 is a vertical section on line I3-I3 in Fig. 1 of the drawings.

Figyll is a similar section on lineI4-I4 in Fig. 1 of the drawings. A

Fig l5 is a similar section on line I 5'-I 5,V in Fig'. 1 of the drawings.V y 1 Fig. 16 is a fragmentary detail section on line I6-I6 in Fig. 1 of the drawings. Y Fig. 17 is asimilar section on line I 'If-I I in Fig.' 1 of the drawings.

Y `As thus illustrated, the base or bed-plate structure, as shown in Fig. 2 ofthe drawings, comprises foul' castings or sections I, 2, 3 and 4, one for each rail intersection, that are connected t0- gether by the splice-bars or sh-plates 5, shown in the drawings, thereby constituting said seotions a rigid frame in the form of a solid base that will adequately support the weight of the trains. f Y

Looking at Fig. 1 of the drawings, it will be seen that rails 6 are suitably connected tothe sections I and 2, while other rails 'I in alignment therewith are suitably connected to the sections 3 and 4, in alignment with the rigid tread portions 8, 9,\I0, II, I2, I3, I4, and I5, as shown Rails I6 are rigidly connected to the sections 2 and 3 in alignment with the rails I'I that are rigidly connected to the sections I and 4, and it will be seen that the rails I6 and IIV are in alignment with the rigid tread portions I8, I9, 20, 2|, 22, 23, 24 and 25, preferably cast integral with the said base or bed-plate structure.

At each rail intersection, there is a member 26 which is pivoted vertically at 21 on the bedframe, and which has a portion 28 for support-v ing the wheels. Also, at each'rail intersection, there is a pivoted member 29, that is pivoted vertically at 30, and which has a portion 3l for` supporting the wheels.v The two pivoted members at eachvrail intersection are suitably connected by rods 32 andy 33 and bell-crank levers 34, and the end of each lever has a rod 35, to which power maybe applied to shift the said pivoted members about their vertical axes, when it is desired to pass a train over one or the other of the two tracks. It will be'seen that each pivoted member has a curved periphery that is curved about its vertical axis and which moves on the corresponding curve of one of the tread sections 9 or I0, I3 or I4, I9 or 20, or 23 or 24, so that these rigid tread sections are always close to the peripheries of said pivoted members. Also, each pivoted memberpreferably has a lug portion 36 that swings under the tread of the rigid tread section. This is shown more clearly in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6, and in Fig. 16, thus insuring proper positioning of the parts when the wheels are passing over the crossing. The said rods 35, in actual practice, may extend to any suitable or desired power means, and are preferably controlled from a crossing tower, by the man in the switch tower ordinarily provided at crossings or in railroad yards. It will be seen that some of the vertical axes of some of the said pivoted members are outside of the wheel tread paths, while others are inside thereof, as some of the pivoted members are of the kind shown in Fig. 4, whereas others are of the kind shown in Fig. 6 or the drawings. Thus, the said pivoted members are all of the same kind, except that some of them are shaped one way for pivoting, while others are shaped another way for providing a pivotal support, but the arcuate portions of these pivoted members are substantially kthe same, and it is also true that some of the arcs are on larger circles than the others. But the point is that these wheel supporting pivoted members swing about vertical axes and do not have any sliding motion bodily, and hence they are easy to operate and are yet reliable and not easily gotten out of order.

Thus, when a train passes on one track, there will be four pivoted wheel supporting members brought into action to support the wheels and provide ,continuity of wheel tread contact with the rigid `tread sections that are in alignment with the rails of this track. On the other hand, when a train passes on the other track, then the other four pivoted members are brought into actionl to support the wheels of this train. Thus, there are no gaps or depressions in the paths ofi the wheels on the crossing that would produce any pounding or jolting, as the wheel tread path of each wheel is practically continuous and has no gap or break therein.

The base or bed-plate construction is easily cast in the four sections, and these are easily bolted together, in the manner shown in the drawings, so that the manufacturing andrassembly problems are vsolved to advantage in the production andV use of a railway crossing of this particular character.

Preferably, guides 37 are bolted to the bedframe to overlie anges formed on the pivoted or oscillating members, thereby to more eiectively hold the parts in operative condition.

It will be seen, also, that the railway crossing thus provided may be easily taken apart for the purpose of making repairs or substitutions, and that the operating parts are easily lubricated and that there is practically nothing that will easily break orV fracture or get loose and cause trouble.

It is important to observe that the pivoted members are pivoted entirely independent of the rails, and independently of all treads on the crossing, and that they are arranged in pairs with each pair separable intact from the others, and.V from the rails, and with a pair of pivoted members for each corner, and it will also be observed that all four pairs are separable intact as a unit from the rails leading to the crossing.

Also, it will be selen that the crossing is diamond shape, instead of being rectangular, so that the action of the wheels on the crossing is not simultaneous., as would be the case if the crossing was rectangular. Such being the case, it willbe seen that each pivoted member of each acute corner angle of the crossing is each pivoted -between the `or the parts I3 and I4.

rails, or between the paths of the wheels, whereas a pair of pivoted members for each obtuse corner angle of the crossing are each pivoted outside of the rails, or outside the paths of the wheels. In this way, the intermediate treads, such as 23 and 24, or such as I9 and 25 are formed approximately the same at each end.

Looking at Fig. 2 of the drawings, it will be seen that the entire crossing is cast in four sections, and that the ordinary rails, such as the rails 6 and .'I and i8 and I1, form no part of the crossing. As shown, therefore, each inside tread section is separable at its middle, so that it is formed in two parts, such as the parts and Il), These are called inside tread sections because they are between the parallel paths of travel of the wheels. The outside tread sections, such as I2 and 2|, or I5 and 25, are cast integral with each other, at each corner of the crossing, and each pair of outside tread sections is cast integral with the two parts 0f two inside tread sections. Thus the entire crossing is cast in the manner shown and described,

and the rails leading to the crossing form no part of the latter, and the pivoted elements remain together and intact when the rails are disconnected from the crossing. f

As shown more clearly in Fig. 8, it will be seen that the pivot bolts 21 and 3 extend not only through the pivoted members, but also through the castings which form the bed of the crossing, there being four of these cas-tinge, one vfor each corner of the crossing. Thus these pivot bolts are entirely independent of any tread sections of the crossing, and Vof any rails leading `to this crossing. That means that the rails can be coupled or uncoupled without in any way disturbing said pivoted members. In this way, by simply removing the fish-plates 5 from the joints of the crossing, the latter can be separated into four sections with two pivoted elements on each section.V Practically all of the labor and machine work on the crossing is done in the shop, and the four fully vassembled sections are taken out and coupled together by the fish-plates at the place where the crossing is to be located. In other words, for example, no labor whatever needs to be done at the place where the crossing is assembled and located, as all that can be done in the shop. The assembling and installation of the crossing requires only the application vof the said Vfish-plates andthe coupling of the rails to the outer tread portions of Vthe crossing.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. A poundless railway crossing composed of four separate castings comprising rigid inside and outside tread sections in alignment with the rails leading to and separably coupled to the crossing, each inside section being separable at its middle, and each outside section being cast integral with another outsidesection and with two yinside sections, lmeans to rigidly hold the two portions lof each inside section in alignment, a plurality of pivoted members mounted on Yeach casting and mounted to swing or pivot about vertical axes and having integral portions that thus oscillate into and out of the path of the wheels of the trains passing over said crossing, said pivoted members being all swiveled directly on said Icastings and independent of all rails or treads on the leading to the crossing, this construction preventing any disturbance of said pivoted members when the rails are coupled to or uncoupled from the crossing, said crossing being diamond shape, with the pivoted members of each acute corner angle pivoted inside or between the paths of the wheels, and with the pivoted members of each obtuse corner angle pivoted outside the paths of the wheels, the pivoted members for said obtuse corner angles having arms that extend under the wheel paths to their pivots outside said paths.

2. A poundless railway crossing composed of four separate castings comprising rigid inside and outside tread sections in alignment with the rails leading to and separably coupled to the crossing, each inside section being separable at its middle, and each outside section being cast integral with another outside section and with two inside sections, means to rigidly hold the two portions of each inside section in alignment, a plurality of pivoted members mounted on each casting and mounted to swing or pivotabout vertical axes and.V having integral portions that thus oscillate into and out of the path of the wheels of the trains passing over said crossing, said pivoted members being all swiveled directly on said castings and independent of all rails or treads on the crossing, and being arranged in pairs, with each pair separable intact as a connected unit from the others, and from the rails, and with a pair for each corner of the crossing, all four pairs being separable together intact as a unit from the rails leading to the crossing, this construction preventing any disturbance of said pivoted members when the rails are coupled to or uncoupled from the crossing, four of said pivoted members having arms that extend outwardly under the wheel paths to reach their pivots, and the other four pivoted members being pivoted at points between the parallel vertical planes of the Wheel paths.

LEWIS ALEXANDER. 

